If "Moulin Rouge" brought the movie musical back into vogue, "Chicago" should do a lot to keep it there. The demise of the
movie musical has been lamented much in the past several years. Before "Moulin Rouge" (2001), it had been 22 years ("All That Jazz") since a live-action musical was nominated for a best picture Academy Award, and 33 years ("Oliver!") since one had won. Oscars aside, when was the last time that a movie musical found favor in the eyes of the American public? Madonna's "Evita" (1996) failed to get audiences singing again; "Newsies" (1992) flopped and subsequently developed a cult following on video, but did little else. The Disney animated musicals did extraordinarily well in the early 1990s, but those ultimately waned in popularity, too. Somehow, it was no longer cool for movie characters to sing, not even in cartoons -- unless they were making fun of musicals, as in the "South Park" movie (1999).
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